Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-01-07


her on the instant can Only be accounte,
for by the fact that he himself was no
in a fit state of mind for playing the in
structor. There is great deal in sur
names. What giimpses of old life the,
sometimes give us: they are little bits o
history:
REVELATIONS OF HUMAN INTEREST;
scraps of poetry and humor; notes of af
fection, ridicuIe, sarcasm and impertin
ence; often stories condensed into a sin
gle word. A large number of surname
consist of the fathers name with the ad
dition of "son," or an equivalent for son
like Mac or Fitz. Names CT this sor
often tiuctuate from generation to gen
Grafton. Alan Waterson, for example
had a son Walter, who called himself
Walter Alanson." Other names are pure
ly local in origin, names such as Brook
Dale, Marsh, Land, Wood and Heath
Among local names we may also include
Kent, Cornish, Wiltshire, Devonish, Ire
land, Welsh, and such like. Granville
may be classed among local names. 1t is
| told that Lord Lyttleton once disputed
| with the head of the Granvilles which was
the older family. asserting his own to bt
I the mere ancient, inasmuch as the little
must necessarily have existed before the
| Grandyille. Offices, occupation, and con
dition gave rise to other names. Thus
we have Smith, Cook, Shepherd, Plow
man, Knight, Corner (Coroner), Archer
| Singer, Justice, Provost, Dresser, Chap
man, Barbour, and host more. The
surnames of occupation form wonder
full guide to the industries of our fore.
| fathers. Those who kept shops of inns
| got
| suRNAMEs FROM THEIR SIGNS,
| a practice which accounts for many sur
names of fancier order.
John at the Bell became John Bell
| Thomas at the Rose became Thomas
| Rose; Oliver at the Tn. .rne became
| Oliver Thorne, and Nicholas at the Spar
row became Nicholas Sparrow.
A large class of names is devoted to
| the description of personal appearance
manner, and character. We find out
| ward peculiarities indicated in an i'm.
mense number, such as Longman, Short
man, Smallman, Big, Little, Thick, Thin
| Shorter, Stronger, Black, White and
Browns. Mental characteristics gave
rise TO such surnames as Good, Patient
Wise, Gay, Sage, Blythe, Merry, Make
peace, Sweet, Proud, Meek, Humble, and
Jolly. People who reminded their neigh
bors of birds, beasts, fish, and insects
have transmitted to their descendants
many surnames, of which samples may
be seen in our collection. Not few
names representing personal appearance
and character have evidently been origin
| ally niCknames Cruikshank, Glutton,
| Pennyfather, or Miser, for example. Oc-
casionally, as in the case of Swindler, the
name has the air of giving piece of
ones mind"
The frequency with which particular
| names are met varies with the, locality.
In Scotland the names of some localities
is particularly well defined. We have
Macdonald, Mackenzie, Robertson, and
Stewart in the north; Scott, Kerr, Elliott,
johnson, and Maxwell in the south; Cor
don, Forbes, Grant and Ogilvie in the
east; aad Campbell, Cameron, MacIIean
and Kennedy in the west.
"This arises from the clansmen having
made practice of
TAKING THE NAMES OF THEIR CHIEFS
and considering themselves members of
| their family by adoption, if not other
wise" There are some names met with
in England which appear never to have
crossed the Sorder. Among those of
which England may thus claim to have a
monopoly we ind Church yard Dead,nen,
Scamp, swinAer, Gotobed Slaue nter,
Startup, TweN Iymen, Allbones, Little
proud, Fudge Puddle, and Wildblood
The most prevalent surnames in Scotland
according to Mr.. George Seton, are
Smith, the name OF one person in every
sixty nine; Macdonald, one in seventy
eight Brown, one in eighty nine;
Robertson, one in ninety-one; Campbell,
| one in ninety two Thompson, one in
ninety-five, and Stewart, one in ninety
eight.
The soul of a name" says Isaac Dis
raeli, will have, IN spite of all our
philosophy, a painful and ludicrous eff
feet on our ears and Our associations. 1t
is vexatious that the softness of delicious
vowels or the ruggedness of memorable
consonants should at all be connected
with mans happiness or even have an
influence on his fortunes" Some names,
indeed, are almost fatal to success; they
simply suggest jokes and encourage
familiarity. A man has no hesitation in
proving "thumps upon your back how he
esteems your merit" if you are called
Twigger or Tapp or Trundle or Littleboy,
but he would hardly venture on 1t were
you Il more aristocratic Montgomery or
Gascoigne. For man to
INHERIT AN INSIGNIFICANT OR AN ABSURD
NAME.
is to have a stone tied around his neck
in childhood to keep him all his life to
the depth of obscurity. 1t would be
difficult thing to find famous charact-
er in literature, or Anything else with a
surname at least approaching in charact-
er to say toothaches or bang or Baby.
Who could fancy Squib or Gsbble
visited at any time by the inspirations
of geniusg John Wilkes expressed this
idea once in conversation with DR.. John
son. They were speaking of Elkanah
Settle, the last of the city poets. "There
| is something in names" said Wilkes,
which one cannot help feeling. Now
| Elkanah Settle sounds so queer; who can
| expect much from that name? We should
have no hesitation in giving it for John
| Dryden in preference to Elkanah Settle
| from the names only, without knowing
their different merits" Considerations
such as these, not to speak of testament
| airy injuuctions and conditions attach ed
! to deeds of entail, bave induced people
from time to change their names. The
world being as it is, and mans instinct
leading him to fasten on and worry the
| ridiculous, 1t is often a sensible proceed.
| ing. Cuthbert is made to take the place
of Cuddy, McAloine of Halfpenny, Bel
come of Bullock, DeWinton of wilkins
and Ephraim Bug is transformed into
the aristocra ic Norfolk Howard.